By Eliza Bruce-Jones, Second Year English Literature
On Instagram, the band stated that they ‘will promise to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience’ - and that they did. Unsure of what to expect as they were missing the distinctive baritone voice of Jimi Goodwin, who decided not to tour in order to focus on his mental health, twin brothers Jez and Andy Williams did a brilliant job at keeping the magic of their older songs alive, and treating us to some new ones from their sixth album, Constellations For The Lonely.
With the lights fading from dark blue to off, the crowd jittered with nervous excitement. A spotlight shone out into the crowd from the back screen, which was used throughout the concert to orchestrate the audience’s mood and reception.
Flickering to life, a black and white lighthouse began to appear and disappear, shining a search light onto the audience to obscure the view of the band appearing on stage as the first eerie notes of ‘Firesuite’ filled the room.
As the song continued, smoke filled the front and floor lights cast up rippled in grey, a continuation of the lighthouse scene from the beginning.
It wasn’t long before Jez had the crowd dancing with a quadruple back to back of fan favourites - ‘Carousels’, ‘Words’, ‘Cold Dreaming’ and ‘Here It Comes’ - with Andy stepping up from his drum set to sing, play the tambourine and even, with his eyes closed and head back, play the harmonica for ‘Here it Comes’.
With our attention captured, Doves shook off the moodiness of these songs by heading into ‘Renegade’, the first track on their new album.
The lights lit up the sides of the room which was packed with people whose enraptured eyes were all trained in on the band. Jimi, in an interview with NME, said how it ‘absolutely blew [his] fucking mind’ that their audiences are as receptive to their new songs as they are the old, which ‘Renegade’ definitely proved at SWX.
With ‘Snowden’, ‘Cycle of Hurt’ and ‘Winter Hill’ all being played, the audience – whose hands did not stop clapping along to the beats – rightly anticipated a favourite. The opening beats of ‘Pounding’ resulted in a huge cheer as flashing lights illuminated the whole room, projecting onto the sides and roof.
Following was a little moment for Goodwin – who Andy said was ‘here in spirit’, as they dedicated ‘Last Year’s Man’ to him.
By the end of ‘Last Broadcast’ and ‘Rise’, the whole crowd was singing the beginning trance lyrics of ‘10:03’. Suddenly the chorus hit, triggering an eruption of lights and the crowd stomped their feet, electrifying the whole of SWX and immediately began the distinctive drum-crashing introduction of ‘Black and White Town’.
As it ended, the band left the stage. No one moved, knowing that it wouldn’t – couldn’t – be over yet.
When they reappeared, with Jez joking that they ‘just went for a piss’, they began a generous four-song encore and riled the crowd up with the opening moments of ‘The Cedar Room’ which triggered an eruption of cheering, applause and swaying as the fan favourite filled the room.
I had high expectations for ‘Kingdom of Rust’, hoping to be overwhelmed by the fast-paced, heart pounding drums and sense of urgency in the recorded song. I was slightly disappointed, particularly without Goodwin’s deep, intense voice, but nevertheless, the stripped down version still held the magic of the song.
They proved their adaptability without Goodwin as Andy sang the opening verses at the front before running back to the drums to pick up the tempo and bring about the dynamism of the son – it was very respectable.
Following a brilliant performance of ‘There Goes the Fear’, we were ejected back into their old Sub Sub days. Although it felt slightly misplaced in the set (due to the intensity of their Hacienda-inspired tone), Doves concluded with ‘Space Face’ and an intense light show to go with it.
With the tender recollection that Doves (as Sub Sub) had previously played at Lakota years before, Jez expressed his gratitude to Bristol, the fans, and the sold-out show.
The band did a brilliant job at retaining the magic of their songs, both old and new. They interacted with the crowd as Jez moved across and around the stage before his final, concluding raising of the guitar into the air.
The band matched their music, with its sense of transcendence, hope, despair and uniqueness, wistfully blended into a stunning performance.
‘Fail we may… Sail we must’ appeared on the screen at the beginning of the set. Despite missing the deep Mancunian baritone from Goodwin – and we did miss him – the band took to the concert with strong optimism. It cannot be denied; they certainly did not fail.
Featured Image: Eliza Bruce-JonesWould an absent band member at a live show be a deal-breaker for you?
